Photoshop Layers

My goal over the last few days has been to learn Photoshop layers. The concept of clear sheets laying on top of each other was not hard to understand. The difficulty came in figuring out the application and how it represents these sheets. 

True to my usual style, I set out to create a project to push along the learning. On etsy.com, each shop has an eye-catching banner across the top. I decided to make a new banner or two from some old crocheted flower photos while I learned about layers.

The key thing I figured out was that the layers palatte, which by default in full edit mode, is visible on the right hand side of the window. I figured out the icons to add a layer and delete a layer. The actual layers are also represented in this palette. It was handy to learn how to click the eyeball next to layers off so I could see just one layer at a time.  Overall, once I saw the layers and their attributes in the palette more clearly, working with them was much easier.

For these banners, here are the steps I used:

1. Open a picture of my crocheted flowers, crop the section I wanted
2. Open a new file with a canvas size of 760 x 100 pixels (etsy requirement)
3. Use the move tool to drag the picture into the new file
4. Use the bucket fill to create background color
5. Add text

After quite a bit of trial and error, since I'm so new at this, I'm pretty happy with these new banners. Who knows, maybe I'll get good enough at this to make banners for others someday.